While most of us would n’t fancy being in the -2 ° cytosine ( 28.4 ° F ) piss underneath Antarctica ’s winter ice , for the sea - dwelling critter that normally subsist there , it ’s positively balmy compare to the surface above . In fact , life thrives there – that is , until a so - called “ fingerbreadth of destruction ” appears .
In the time below from the BBC seriesEarth ’s Great Seasons , film crew managed to capture the formation of one such finger , as it spookily creep toward the seabed and , once affecting , proceed to freeze everything within its itinerary .
While such footage might give off the same vibration as a moving-picture show featuring the encroachment of sinister prospicient - finger alien , luckily , no extraterrestrial bodily function is involved – it ’s a brinicle , a tube of ice-skating rink that grows down in just a matter of hours , hold brine within it .
How do brinicles form?
When ocean deoxyephedrine form , the salts in brine do n’t become part of the structure ; instead , they spring pockets of coldbrinewithin the ice-skating rink , not freezing because of the gamy salt subject . If given the chance to get away into the water system below , this brine ends up sinking – the salt content make it much denser than the water it ’s going into .
Remember when we said the water underneath the ice was nice and ( in relative terms ) toasty ? The brine is also much , much colder . As a result , as the current of brine descends , it freezes the brine around it , and lo and behold , you ’ve got yourself a brinicle .
The taledoesn’t remainder there , however . Once the brinicle – also known as an frosting stalactite – reaches the seafloor , it can continue to diffuse , freeze the basis and anything that ’s on it alike .
Filming a brinicle in action
Capturing the formation process in natural action , however , is easier say than done . Even though scientists have been observing brinicles for decade , it was n’t until 2011 that a crew working on the seriesFrozen Planetsuccessfully filmed one forming for the first meter .
“ With the intense cold , and the penury to change air armoured combat vehicle , diver could n’t delay down long enough to becharm an entire event , ” as series bring out Kathryn Jeffs explained in abehind - the - scenes time .
The response ? An submersed television camera that could take a clip - oversight . The job ? Such a piece of outfit did n’t live . fortuitously , underwater cinematographer Hugh Miller was on the job , and after working around the clock to produce a epitome , the crew manage to succeed where no one else had .
